


let’s play a game to get some answers

by vuccijl



Series: how to get from here to there [3]
Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 13:28:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21254126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vuccijl/pseuds/vuccijl
Summary: Girl’s night + Annie makes up here own game + Beth opens up (sort of)





	let’s play a game to get some answers

The corner of Beth's mouth tilts upwards as she watches her sister and best friend bicker back and forth about - well, she isn't entirely sure _what _it's about. It had started off as something stupid and veered it's way towards ridiculous. She's lost track of their current disagreement but the sound of the two of them arguing over something inane and meaningless is almost comforting. 

The three haven't had a true girl's night in ages. It's no one's fault - life just seems to get in the way when you wish it wouldn't. It's not like they haven't seen each other - they _always _see each other - but on most occasions the kid to parent ratio is significantly unbalanced (not in their favor), leaving little time for catching up. 

The night has been long overdue and while they have all been extra busy - Annie had just gotten married after all - Beth can admit that maybe, _possibly_ she's been putting this off.

She wants things with Rio to feel more settled. She wants to have answers to the questions that she knows the girls will ask. She wants to feel _confident _about what she tells them.

Communication between her and Rio has gotten better and they have spent some time with the other's respective children but - something still seems off. Beth just can't put her finger on _what_. It still sometimes feels like he's just out of her grasp - that he isn't entirely _hers _yet.

Maybe it's the lack of a label between them. She doesn't know what she is to him - assumes that if he's letting her spend time with his son that he must care about her but is she his girlfriend? Can she even imagine a day where she calls him her boyfriend? Those particular titles seem...silly. 

She sighs, wondering if maybe they aren't actually communicating better if she still feels this lost. 

"Let's play a game." Annie says, interrupting Beth's thoughts. 

Beth glances in the direction of her sister and then over at Ruby - both curiously looking at her. They haven't asked about Rio yet - surprising to Beth in some ways but also not in other ways. It's part of the reason she’s finally insisted they get together. She's starting to get the impression that Ruby and Annie don't actually realize how serious things with Rio have become. 

Just the other day, Ruby had casually mentioned something about doing a double date with Stan and one of his single police friends. Annie had also not so subtly hinted that Nick had an older cousin who was recently divorced and looking to get back out there.

They know she's been spending time with him, it's only been a few weeks since he’d dropped by when they'd been prepping for Annie's wedding, but she's starting to think that they aren't taking it seriously and decidedly she's the only one to blame for that.

"I'm not playing Truth or Dare." Beth says immediately, leaning forward from her position on the couch to pick up her wine glass.

Annie's mouth drops open and she has the decency to look offended. "I would not suggest such a childish activity, Beth."

Ruby snorts, sipping at her own glass of wine before looking pointedly at Annie. "No? What's different today than the last time we got together and you suggested it?" 

Annie smirks and holds up her left hand, ring sparkling under the light. "I'm a married woman now."

Beth laughs but can't help the genuine smile that pulls at her lips. She's happy for her sister and it's clear as day that Annie is happy for herself. Maybe that's part of the reason Beth suddenly feels so ready to move forward with Rio. She doesn't have to worry about Annie the same way she has been for years now.

"What game did you have in mind then?" Beth asks, humoring her.

"It's a new game I made up." Annie says excitedly but Beth is hesitant to share her sister's enthusiasm when she clocks the gleam in her eyes. When Annie slyly looks over in Ruby's direction, Beth narrows her eyes.

"What kind of game?"

"The tentative name is called 'Interrogate Beth' but I'm open to other suggestions." Annie answers seriously not taking her eyes off of her sister for fear that she'll run out of the room or, worse, throw a drink in her face.

"Doesn't sound like much fun." Beth deadpans, attempting to push down her ever growing impatience.

"It is, though. It's sort of like 20 questions except we ask all of the questions and you answer them without complaining."

Beth glares but instead of shutting her sister down entirely she contemplates the benefits of the game. While it's ridiculous and has clearly been created with the intention of putting her on the spot - wasn't her whole hope for tonight to enlighten her friends on her life?

She looks to Ruby and raises her eyebrows. "You support this idea?"

Ruby purses her lips and side eyes her friend. She sits up straighter and nods. "I support anything that gets you to open up to us a little bit.” 

Annie claps and smiles seemingly surprised that her game idea has been so readily accepted. She runs with it though, not willing to give Beth the chance to back out. "Good. Settled. I'll start. Beth, how's work at the bakery?"

"How's work at the bakery?” Beth repeats, the tone of her voice dripping in annoyance. 

"Yes." Annie answers and she's either ignoring her sister's frustration or clueless to it.

"That's what you're going with?" Beth asks, giving her sister the opportunity to maybe ask something slightly more - personal.

"We'll work our way up to the good stuff." Annie says, her face serious. Beth sighs once again but instead of fighting her sister she rolls with it because, let's be honest, that's typically the best way to deal with her. 

"Work is fine." 

Annie shakes her head and pushes her leg underneath her to give her more leverage on the couch. She wipes her hands over her jeans and speaks. "No. Sorry, new rule. You have to elaborate. No use of the words fine or good."

"You realize I want to murder you more times than not right?" 

Annie raises her eyebrows but doesn't look entirely put off or surprised by Beth’s admission. "Mm. And leave Sadie motherless? Leave Nick a widow? Yeah, no. My game, my rules. Go."

Beth looks to Ruby for help or support or _something _but she holds up her hands and shakes her head as if she wants no part of this.

So Beth relents and answers Annie's question. "Work at the bakery is going really well. The hours work with the kids schedule and I'm even doing some mornings on the weekends I don't have them."

Annie smiles, content with her answer. "Speaking of the kids, how are the little devils?" 

"You just saw them two days ago." Beth answers dryly, already exhausted by the questioning.

Annie throws her hands up in frustration and turns to Ruby. "Why don't you ask a question."

Ruby contemplates the request for a second before shifting her body to face Beth head on. With one look, Beth can tell that Ruby won't be wasting any time. 

"Are you interested in going out with one of the officers Stan works with?"

Beth shakes her head and feels her cheeks brighten. "No - I -"

Annie let's out a yelp and bounces in her seat excitedly. Before Beth can continue or Ruby can ask a follow up she chimes in: 

"Are you interested in a blind date with Nick's newly single cousin?" 

"No -" Beth says and once again her sentence is cut off before she can finish. 

"Are you still boinking gang friend on the regular?"

"Annie!" Beth shouts, and now her face is definitely burning up.

"Jesus." Ruby mumbles, dropping her head into her hands. 

Beth jumps off the couch with no real intention of going anywhere but she needs to feel more in control than she does at the moment. Annie mimics her action, jumping out of her seat as well, prepared to go head to head with Beth if necessary.

"You're out of your mind." Beth points out, her voice as steady as it can be after being so worked up. 

"Someone's gotta ask the tough questions." Annie says with a shrug.

Beth sits back down and makes a gesture for Annie to take the spot next to Ruby. She perches herself on the edge of the couch and folds her hands in her lap. Beth inhales and exhales, once and twice and then three times before she looks up at the two sets of eyes staring back at her.

"Jesus, are you pregnant?" Annie asks suddenly. She’s whispering and her eyes are wide.

Beth's mouth drops open. She doesn't know how her sister can continuously surprise her but just when she thinks she can't possibly make another imbecile comment - 

"No! What?"

Annie has the decency to look slightly bashful but it's also clear she thinks the blame lies with Beth. "You just seem so...nervous."

Beth groans and then decides to steer the conversation in the direction that it needs to go. She knows better than to let Annie start up a game and she should have ended it before it even started.

"Rio and I are seeing each other."

She's not sure what she expects but it's not the glazed over look both women give her from where they sit. 

Ruby speaks up first giving her friend a reassuring smile. "Girl, how about tell us something we don't know?"

It takes Beth a moment to speak but when she does, she's clearly confused. "If you know than why are you trying to set me up with single policemen and divorced cousins?"

They both shrug but it's Annie who chimes in first. "It was that or tap your phone line."

Ruby swats at the girl next to her and speaks up. "It's not easy to get anything out of you. We thought it might...encourage you to share." 

Beth sighs, resigned, and falls back into the cushions of the couch. "There was nothing to tell for a while. We were just...casual."

Annie holds up a hand and speaks bluntly. "If by casual you mean _sleeping _together I have to disagree. There are lots of things I'd like you to tell us about that. The size of -"

"Oh my God." Ruby says burying her head into the pillow beside her. 

"Shut up." Beth says with a glare, stopping her from finishing the sentence. "We _were_ just sleeping together but now it's...more...it's -" 

"Serious?" Ruby asks, finishing her sentence. 

Beth flushes and looks down. "Yes." 

All three are silent momentarily. Beth's desperate for them to say something but it's taken her months to be accepting of her relationship - imagine how the two of them must feel?

"I truly don't get it." Ruby says finally and Beth deflates at the words. She understands - she doesn't really expect them to get it but... 

"I know. it's just -" Beth trails off not sure what to say. Not sure how to make sense of it for them. Not sure if she wants to.

"Explain it to us." Ruby says and she's pushier now and Beth knows it comes from a place of love, of worry, of concern but Beth isn't sure she wants to - or should have to - convince them to be accepting of her relationship.

"I'm not sure I can." Beth answers quietly and it's, for the most part, completely true. One fact she's reconciled is that a lot of the reasons why they work together don’t necessarily make sense on paper. 

"What do you like about him?" Annie jumps in and Beth gives her sister a small smile because she's always been a good buffer between she and Ruby when things get tense. 

She's thought about this before. Thought about the things she likes about him (and doesn't) and the things that make her want to be with him...always. She flushes when she thinks of the obvious. How good looking he is, how charming and sexy and appealing the whole outside package is to her - to anyone with a pulse really. Annie clocks her look and waves her hands in the air as if to stop Beth from speaking.

"You can't say his dick."

Beth is ready for the comment - she knows Annie better than anyone after all - so the pillow that gets thrown at her face is mid-air before the sentence is even finished.

"He respects me." Beth says determinedly and she sees Ruby's eyes widen and can almost hear the thoughts in her head. How can she say he respects her when he's _held a gun to your head_?

Beth continues before Ruby can formulate a response. "The bad stuff is in the past. He respects me. He listens to me. He...gets me."

"Gets you hot and bothered." Annie mutters, quickly covering her face for fear of having another object thrown at her. 

"There's that too." Beth concedes because their attraction isn't everything but it's what got them here in the first place.

Before anyone can argue, Beth hears the door in the kitchen open and footsteps enter the house. She turns, knows it must be Rio, it couldn't be anyone else, but she didn’t anticipate seeing him tonight so she’s thrown for a loop. 

Three pairs of eyes watch him enter the living room. He stops short when he sees them all sitting quietly, watching him, and gives a small wave.

"Hey." He greets quietly but he's looking directly at Beth. 

"Hi." She says back with a small smile but a question in her eyes.

A head peeks out from behind him and Beth's smile widens at the sight of Marcus in front of her.

"Hi Miss Beth." Marcus says through a toothless grin. 

"Hi Marcus." She says happily. She can feel eyes on her back but chooses to ignore them for now. Her eyes shoot back to Rio's but she isn't annoyed, just curious. "This is a surprise."

"I know." He starts, his voice apologetic. Marcus wraps his arms around his father's legs when he notices Annie and Ruby in the room and he shyly pushes his face into his thigh. "Pop, say hi to Miss Beth's sister and friend."

Marcus gives a quick wave and smile but nothing more. Annie and Ruby return the greeting and Beth thinks they might excuse themselves to give some privacy but - no. It’s not their style to miss out on the very thing they'd just been giving her a hard time about.

"Everything okay?" Beth asks, standing from her seat on the couch. 

"Power went out at the loft." Rio answers. His eyes swing to the window and Beth follows his gaze. For the first time she notices the rain pouring down. She briefly recalls hearing about a bad storm coming through but had forgotten about it in her haste to prepare for the evening with her friends. "I called."

Beth glances around the room but doesn't see her phone. She gives Rio a shrug and small smile as if to say, "sorry." He knows she's terrible at keeping track of where her phone is at any given moment, especially when she's caught up with her friends.

"S'ok." He says. "Brought pizza. We'll be in the kitchen." 

Rio nudges Marcus and Beth watches as the two walk back towards where they came from. 

Beth turns slowly back towards the girls and smiles. "He's a really good dad."

When they look at her in confusion she elaborates. 

"Add that to the list of things I like." She says and as if to further make her point: "I can keep going too."

"Beth," Ruby starts hesitantly but Beth doesn't let her finish her thought. 

"I get your doubts. I do. But you've only ever seen him in work mode and you've only ever seen us together that way too." 

”So...he's your... boyfriend?”Annie asks and Beth opens her mouth to respond when she hears him clear his throat behind her.

Her neck swings around and from the look on his face she _knows_ he’s heard Annie’s question. 

ARE YOU? Beth wants to scream but she smiles and waits for him to speak. 

”Enough pizza if you’re interested.” He says pointing towards the kitchen, smirk still firmly in place.

Annie giggles loving every moment of the situation they’re in. Beth knows she’ll be the easiest to bring over to her side on this one. She’s certain that, in Annie’s mind, anyone is better for her than Dean.

Beth mouths a thank you and turns away assuming he’ll just leave but - 

“Boyfriend sounds a little juvenile, no?” He says with a laugh before walking away and Beth wants to crawl into a hole and die but also...at least they’re on the same page.

She’s not sure why she doubted it to begin with. She’s a different person in this relationship with Rio than the person she was with Dean. She’s older and wiser, sure, but - it’s _him_ that makes her different.

Makes her better, she’s starting to think. 

So she’ll attempt not to rush anything, attempt to figure things out as they go. She looks up at Annie and Ruby who both seem interested in the idea of pizza and thinks all they need is time too.


End file.
